Haneef appeal hearing set for August 8 July 19, 2007
Posted by Scarecrow in 07/18/07 Yahoo.au News.trackback
Wednesday July 18, 05:46 PM
Haneef appeal hearing set for August 8
Terror suspect Mohamed Haneef will learn in two weeks whether he will be forced to wait in detention for his trial, after his lawyers lodged an appeal in the Federal Court in Brisbane on Wednesday.
At a directions hearing on Wednesday afternoon, Justice Jeffrey Spender set down Haneef’s appeal against the cancellation of his visa for hearing on August 8.
Gold Coast-based doctor Haneef has been charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation allegedly involved in a plot to blow up a London nightclub and Glasgow airport.
The federal government on Monday cancelled Haneef’s visa on character grounds after a magistrate granted the Indian doctor bail. He remains in custody.
In a surprise move, Justice Spender questioned Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews’ interpretation of the character test used to revoke Haneef’s visa.
He questioned what grounds Mr Andrews used to justify his view that he had a reasonable suspicion that Haneef had an association with terrorists, saying that he himself would fail the character test.
“Unfortunately I wouldn’t pass the character test on your statement because I’ve been associated with people suspected of criminal conduct,” Justice Spender said to the Immigration Department’s counsel.
The Immigration Department’s counsel agreed that he wouldn’t pass the character test if he were a non-citizen.
Justice Spender also urged Mr Andrews to provide any protected information he used to make his decision, saying it would be difficult for him to make his judgment without it.
Earlier, the barrister representing Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef admitted leaking restricted police documents to the media.
Stephen Keim SC on Wednesday afternoon released a statement confirming he had released the transcript of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) interview following Haneef’s arrest at Brisbane Airport on July 2.
Mr Keim denied any wrongdoing in releasing the interview and said he was only responding to “an aggressive campaign of selective leaking” by authorities.
“These leaks could only have been motivated by a desire by those perpetrating them to suggest to the Australian public that the case against Dr Haneef was stronger than the Australian Federal Police, through their counsel, the Commonwealth DPP, had been able to put before the court in Dr Haneef’s bail application,” he said.
Mr Keim said he released the document to The Australian newspaper because it provided in full the information the AFP had concerning Haneef at the time of the arrest and the answers the Indian national gave during the interview.
Although access to police transcripts is normally restricted to police, prosecutors and defence lawyers until they are aired in court, Mr Keim said he had no legal obligation to keep the document a secret.
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